Cristiano Mozzati Of Lacuna Coil

By

Andrew Lentz

June 14, 2012 7:18 am

It’s a cliché that English is the language of rock and roll,
and except for a brief interlude nel’italiano in final
track “My Spirit,” Lacuna Coil’s English-only policy
hasn’t put off their countrymen. More importantly, it points to
their Evanescence-hunting, world-beating ambition. “For rock
music, the U.S. and England is number one,” Mozzati says. “I
don’t necessarily wish it was that way. We want to please our
Italian fans of course, but if something is good the language of the
lyrics shouldn’t matter. And the Italians feel like that
too.”

With a European tour underway by the time you read this, Mozzati will
still be acclimating to the new songs. As with any new release, Dark
Adrenaline will be showcased in dribs and drabs at first so
he’s not sweating that some of the drum parts are still hazy.
“Were just going to play a couple of new songs and I’m
pretty sure I have to rehearse a lot before the other tour in the
U.S.,” he says referring to Gigantour. “This is going to be
our third time with Megadeth. I’m always thrilled to play with
them, and I’m happy M...t...rhead is on there too.”

But if night after night of punishing sets playing six albums and two
EPs worth of material is no problem for Mozzatti then what is?

Gear

Quick Licks

Mozzati has a solid strategy for the studio: unpretentious groove
metal punctuated by the occasional and brief flexing of serious chops.
Check out the chorus in “Upsidedown.” The fill he drops at
the end of the phrase comes as a bit of a surprise compared with the
groove it follows, yet not so much that it seems out of place or
gratuitous. Then, instead of wastefully introducing more new fill
material, he takes this idea and expands it into a measure-long beast
toward the end of the track (@ 2:50).

DRUM! Notation Guide

Inside Tracks

"Lacuna Coil"Dark Adrenaline
Century Media

That cliché about “less is more”? That applies to
clichés, too: The less often you hear them, the more resonant they can
be. Even so, it’s appropriate to trot it out one more time when
assessing Cristiano Mozzati’s work with Lacuna Coil. The sound of
his kit alone brands him as part of the nü-metal school. But unlike many
of its practitioners, he seems determined to never overplay. Only here
and there does he unleash a zippy, quick fill. Always, however, it
centers on his kit; the double kick resists nearly all temptation to
erupt in pointless display. He even locks onto a four-on-the-floor
groove during the bridge of “Give Me Something More.” And
when he takes a solo moment in “I Don’t Believe in
Tomorrow,” Mozzati concentrates more on working within the
structure of the 4/4 meter (3+3+2) than on razzle-dazzle for its own
sake. In fact, given the looseness he brings to an often unbending
idiom, it might have been good to hear him show off just a bit more.